Q: (Ryan) Clady’s surgery has a five- to six-month recovery time, and this is on top of an already big list of injuries on the offensive line. Are the Broncos eyeballing offensive linemen in the early rounds of the draft?

A: Ian, when the Broncos make their picks in this draft Thursday, Friday and Saturday, they will certainly give a long look at a deep class of offensive linemen on this draft board during all three of those days.

And to see why? Check with the team’s training staff.

Left tackle Clady, who the Broncos have designated with the franchise-player tag (a one-year, $9.828 million contract that Clady has yet to sign), had shoulder surgery. And he is also unhappy he does not have a long-term deal.

So he will not participate in the team’s offseason program for both reasons. He suffered the injury in the Broncos’ final regular-season game against the Kansas City Chiefs. But after he missed two weeks of practices, he played in the double-overtime loss to the Ravens.

Clady has started the last 83 games for the Broncos.

Right guard Chris Kuper’s long-term future is in question after another surgery to repair his left ankle. Kuper suffered another fracture this past season in the same area where he suffered a dislocation/multiple fractures in the final game of the 2011 regular season.

The fracture this past season was near a plate that had been inserted to help repair the original injury. It has been a long road for Kuper since the original injury. And while he has been a core player for the team who was sorely missed when he wasn’t in the lineup, the Broncos do have some concern over how his leg will hold up moving forward.

Right tackle Orlando Franklin has had both toe and shoulder surgeries this offseason, and center J.D. Walton is still recovering from surgery in October to repair a fractured/dislocated ankle. All four are not expected to participate in much, or any, of the team’s on-field work in the offseason.

And while the Broncos signed Louis Vasquez in free agency to be a starting guard, they are still looking at a draft board loaded with prospects in the offensive line deep into the third day of the draft. It would be a surprise if they don’t come away with a tackle and perhaps another guard by the time they have used all of their picks Saturday night.

And on this board, they could easily find a starting tackle in the second and third rounds if they don’t pull one off the board with their first pick.

They are looking for second-year center Philip Blake — a 2012 draft pick — to show he’s ready to compete for the job this time around. And the Broncos would have expected that even if Walton were fully healthy.

I asked Broncos executive vice president of football operations John Elway if the health of the offensive line would affect how the team approaches the draft this weekend. He said:

“Louis Vasquez helped us in free agency. That was one of the reasons why it was important to get Louis, because of the fact that we did have guys banged up in the offensive line. But yeah, that’s another priority, especially on the offensive side. You can go through the list, and what I do is I ask the priorities from each coordinator and I get their priorities. There are always more priorities than I have picks, let’s put it that way, so I try to weigh those out and figure out what’s going to be the best. It’s always a difficult thing, but we’ll figure it out.”

Elway was then asked if the team needed some kind of backup plan at left tackle if a long-term deal couldn’t be worked out with Clady.

“I think those are things that are brought up,” Elway said. “Every different situation is brought up and where they fall. That’s why it’s important to go through these (mock drafts), to try to get every different situation, and which situation means more than — does left tackle mean more than ‘will’ (linebacker) or defensive tackle? Those are the types of things we have to discuss, and when we get there, we make those decisions. I really think that eventually we’re going to be in good shape with Ryan, and he’s going to be back this year. I still feel like we’re going to get something done with Ryan. It’s not a big concern of mine.”

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